The Ultimate Pedestrian

My way toward the highway...

MTA Accessible Fruit Tree Program

Bare Root Fruit Trees Ready for New Homes

When I signed up to volunteer with Tree People’s Fruit Tree program, I feared many uphill battles cycling up Coldwater Canyon to their oasis at the crest. Happily for me and for any other car-free, car-light or otherwise MTA-oriented types, they have a wonderful location at Grant High School out in the Valley.

Curbside Service via the MTA

Easily bikeable from the North Hollywood Metro Red Line station (bike lanes and/or bike routes all the way along Chandler) or zip up the always-speedy Orange Line to the Valley College stop.

The site is also serviced by local buses 154 and 167.

Bare Root Fruit Trees Soaking It Up

Gathering bare root fruit trees (peach, plum, apricot, apple and nectarine) for pruning and prep for distribution,this little garden patch and future orchard offers an oasis for students and passersby alike.

Kim Trimiew, program coordinator, checks tags on nectarines.

The Fruit Tree program is just one of many ways Tree People makes LA a more livable city.

Visit Treepeople.org to find your leafy niche and get your hands dirty.

Every Bike is Beautiful

My friend Sam drew this bike for me after mine was stolen.

I like it as a template for the next design.

 

 

 

 

Bicycle Thief Has Struck Home

My beloved Batavus was stolen from the courtyard of my apartment building – a quiet spot, behind a house (aka not visible from the street), and flanked by four apartments. BICYCLE STOLEN 121510_FP

Bold, I say, bold. And so dispiriting. I’m surprised at how lonely I feel without it. Your bike really becomes a part of you. I am hopeful it will find its way back to me, but spirits are low.

If seen, please give a shout out to the fine crew at Flying Pigeon Los Angeles who sold me the Batavus and were kind enough to lend me a jaunty Flying Pigeon 3-speed.

Superba Figs & a Flower

Walking to work from the Lincoln & Venice bus stop this morning, I ran into a man carrying a cupful of figs who gestured to a row of the same on his front gate. “I have figs for you…and a flower.”  His name is Dante, and as it turns out his fig tree currently yields approximately 50 figs a day. This burden of abundance has turned another stranger into a generous benefactor. He invited me to please include his house on my daily route, an invitation I’m happy to accept.

This kind of beautiful accident just doesn’t happen when you travel by car — one of the many incidental perks of being a pedestrian.

Few things feel as civilized as receiving fresh fruits and vegetables from the person who grew them.  I’ve been especially blessed by this kind of culinary magnitude lately, beginning with the eggplant, basil and cherry tomato riches of Riverdale Avenue.

Fall is full of promise.

Thank you, kind growers.

Gustiest Metro Station

Now that I’m working in Venice, I so miss my North Hollywood commute, largely because I long for the fixture rattling, wind tunnel experience of the approaching downtown train at Universal City Station.  Here’s the secret: sit at the very farthest end of the platform. Wait patiently. First there will be a hushed stirring. Then the metal gratings above you will begin to quake. As the train nears, step up  and watch it arrive for the full civic tornado experience.

MTA Shake Up Fall Out…Proving Once Again MTA Doesn’t Care about Commuters

This image, taken a while back on a crowded 754, cannot compare with the ridiculously overstuffed Rapid 704 that rolls out of Santa Monica around 7:00pm M-F.

The MTA cannot seem to regulate these buses whatsoever. Every night, as the 704’s near their final departure, they either don’t show up at all or they send some poor driver out with a short bus. Yeah, the old style MTA buses, not the glorious accordioned demons of today. What makes this especially bad is that even with the larger buses, they fill up to the brim so quickly, drivers always have to pass people by. Only those of us who’ve waited hopefully, 30 – 40 minutes for a bus that does not show, at the end of a long work day, can comprehend the horror of having a rapid bus just speed by without stopping.

Commuting from the east side to Santa Monica is a foolhardy thing no matter what mode you choose, but the MTA should at least honor their printed schedules and their ridership by not stiffing us with some antiquated-in-need-of-repair-moldy-vented-anchovy-seating short bus.

So there.

Ride out for your rights: Beverly Hills Protest Take Two

As someone who lives without a car and feels flanked by cyclists who use their bikes for basic transportation, I sometimes dwell in an idealized version of LA, where drivers do not antagonize cyclists, the bike lane is yours for the taking and we all respect traffic laws. The recent lame, lame, lame sentencing of drunk SUV-driver Celine Madahvi who hit cyclist Louis Deliz would indicate that the trendy wave of Villaraigosa-style car-free enthusiasm may be just a bit of lip service.

The correlation between SUV and velo, wherein the guilty SUV driver is

Peaceably protesting, Tuesday

basically coddled and soothed,  given a chance to dry out plus 90 days community service in reparation for causing great bodily harm (my language, not the court’s) to a cyclist belies a big fat class difference. In what other relationship would a violent aggressor not be held fully accountable to the victim? This kind of judgment reeks of old timey she-asked-for-it-ism.

If we interpret this ruling in simple power dynamics, it seems to say by putting yourself on a bike, you put yourself at risk. By riding provocatively (AKA by riding at all), you step into the role of defenseless prey. You “ask for it”.  The gas guzzling bully always wins, so be a good kid, stay out of the way and don’t cause any more trouble.

Be seen, be heard at Beverly Hills Courthouse

What a gift that we have the power of gathering, en masse, to tear down this line of reasoning. Tonight’s protest should send the message loud and clear that there is a growing community of cyclists who are informed, organized and ready to stand up for one another’s basic rights.

Tonight, Friday, July 30th 8:15pm, Beverly Hills Courthouse

Be seen, be felt:Beverly Hills Courthouse (9355 Burton Way) Protest light sentences for hit and run drivers.  The protesters will likely be joined by the hundreds of cyclists of Los Angeles Critical Mass.

Validated by Velo Vogue

I’m blushing a bit…As an enthused fan of Velo Vogue I am honored and a little lightheaded by Libby McInerny’s lovely profile. Proof that I do what I say I do…get by in LA on either two wheels or 12 (or however many wheels there are on our lovely, large buses.

We met and talked bikes and the city at Cafecito Organico, a new caffeinated gem in the neighborhood.

Photo Credit Libby McInerny

Jane’s Walk Los Angeles…We await your return!

Rapid 720 on the Horizon

Lovely walks May 1st & 2nd as part of Jane’s Walk Los Angeles 2010.

The downtown walk hosted by another group had been cancelled do to May Day protests (always defer to social progress), but we savored two gorgeous afternoons in MacArthur Park. 

Saturday, we were treated to a very personal tour of the historic Park Plaza Hotel – courtyard, ballrooms, memorabilia, the original check-in desk and, of course, a secret elevator.

Many thanks to Jackie who coordinated this for us and Abdul who gave us such an intimate introduction to the building. 

Outside, soccer and preaching dominated the scene.

The ever-glorious Westlake Theatre Sign looms over the park.

 

On Sunday, we wandered into what was once the Westlake Theatre, now home to a wacky swap meet where you can buy anything from socks to lamps, as a row of discriminating santas look on from the balcony.

See all the photos via the Koning Eizenberg Architecture (our co-host) facebook album.